Although there are potential security and economic benefits for Moscow to be gained from closer ties to Afghanistan, they will be difficult to achieve.
Although there are potential security and economic benefits for Moscow to be gained from closer ties to Afghanistan, they will be difficult to achieve.
It would be foolish to assume the American withdrawal from Afghanistan will be repeated everywhere else that there is a U.S. presence.
Nothing remotely resembling the “inclusive government” that the Taliban have promised is likely to appear in Afghanistan, while drug trafficking and religious extremism will mushroom.
The nature of the Afghan problem for Central Asia and Russia lies in Afghanistan becoming a source of instability for the region.
Moscow doesn’t see the current Afghan government as autonomous, and is trying to strike a balance between all the different forces at play there in order to retain its influence if one of those forces collapses.
Media reports about a rapprochement between Russia and the Taliban are not even close to reality. Moscow, however, has opened communication channels with the Afghan group, with an eye on protecting its own interests in the country.
The Carnegie Moscow Center hosted Deputy Foreign Minister of Afghanistan Hekmat Karzai to discuss the country’s political, economic, and military situation as well as future development prospects and security challenges in the region.